Left Anchor

The Trump Tsunami Approacheth - 337

Alexi is off, so David Dayen joins Ryan to discuss the events over the holiday. What are Republicans going to do? Is anyone driving the GOP train--maybe Elon Musk? And what in God's name is Trump going on about with conquering Greenland, Canada, and Panama? We live in hell.

The Oligarch Class - 324 UNLOCKED

Today economics professor Rob Larson comes on to discuss his new book Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More. We discuss how the ultra-rich got their money, what they do with it, why it's a problem, and what to do about it. Enjoy!

National Lampoon's Left Anchor Holiday Special - 336 PREVIEW

Subscribe now to listen to the full episode! 

Bidenomics Retrospective - 335

What worked and what didn't about the Biden administration's program, and why didn't it pay off politically? We discuss, and at the end we give a brief update on what's going on in Syria.
Read President Biden’s defense of his record here.

Chaos on the March - 334 PREVIEW

Today we are talking the United Healthcare CEO assassination, the attempted coup in Korea, and the revolution in Syria. Subscribe now to listen to the whole thing!

On the Ground in Philly - 333

Pennsylvania Senator Nikil Saval, who represents the First District in South Philadelphia, talks about what went wrong with the Harris campaign in Philadelphia and across the nation, and how the left might rebuild going forward.
Check out Nikil's recent book Rage in Harlem: June Jordan and Architecture.

What Now? - 332 PREVIEW

This time we are talking about what went wrong and what to do going forward. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing! 

Welp - 331

Trump won. Ryan and the Prospect's David Dayen discuss.

What's Downballot in 2024? - 330

Less than a week to go before the election, so we've got Daniel Nichanian on from the great publication Bolts. We talk about Trump's Nuremburg Rally in New York and what effects it might have, how the Republican ground game is shaping up, and the most important races for state supreme court, prosecutors, and sheriffs.
Check out the rest of Bolts' excellent 2024 coverage here.

Lake Powell Is Doomed - 329 PREVIEW

The second-largest reservoir in the United States is called Lake Powell on the Colorado River. It has not been filled since 1999, and in 2022 reached a record low of about 23 percent full--nearly the point of "dead pool," where the lake would be below the outlet pipes. The reason is that with climate change and reservoir overcapacity (the largest reservoir of all, Lake Mead, is downstream of Powell), there is too much storage on the river relative to demand for agriculture, cities, and water lost from reservoir evaporation.
What to do? Science writer Zak Podmore examines the question in his book Life After Dead Pool: Lake Powell's Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River, where he argues it's time to drain the lake, save a lot of water, and restore the wondrous beauty of flooded Glen Canyon.
Zak and University of Utah economist Marshall Steinbaum join us to talk about the political economy behind the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, how environmentalists went wrong attacking it with conservative arguments, and how the Colorado can be better managed as a resource for both people and nature. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!